Lawyerly Lairs: Cravath Re-Ups at the Death Star
The typical Lawyerly Lairs post offers a voyeuristic peek inside the luxurious residence of a prominent lawyer. Today's post, in contrast, is about an office building. But since lawyers at Cravath, Swaine & Moore pretty much live in the office, the home/office distinction doesn't matter.
From the New York Observer:
Cravath is staying right at home in their Death Star.* The white shoe law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore has signed a 15-year renewal at the Worldwide Plaza at 825 Eighth Avenue that will cost the firm $900 million....Bloomberg reports that Cravath will retain its nearly 600,000 square feet at a little less than $100 per square foot, a far cry from the $39 per foot it paid for a lease it signed in 1989. When Cravath moved to the Hell's Kitchen building back in the 1980's, it was a risk for a high-powered law firm to move that far west, even if it was in a brand-new tower. Twenty years later, with the West Side firmly established, the deal was clearly a steal, especially over the last few years.
We offer some additional observations of our own, after the jump.
* We've been over this before, people. The Observer has it right. Skadden hasn't been referred to as the Death Star ever since they moved into the Conde Nast Building at Four Times Square, home to dozens of fashion models -- who walk on real runways, not the Skadden support staff runway.
Here are our thoughts on this deal:
1. This has to be one of the biggest leases in history. Why not just buy the whole damn building if you're going to lay down almost a billion bucks?Does anyone know whether this lease renewal will result in Cravath associates getting private offices at an earlier point in their tenure? Rumor has it that you get your own office at Cravath around the time you become a third-year associate -- which seems a little late for a firm of Cravath's stature.2. Rumor has it that this lease is for somewhat more space than Cravath currently occupies. Perhaps the Death Star has expansion on the brain. Watch out, Ewoks!
3. Going from $40 to $100 a square foot is quite a steep rent increase. Yes, the neighborhood has improved dramatically since '89. But is removing some trannie hookers from Eighth Avenue really worth $60 a square?
God Help Us. Lawyers Plan Long-Term with $900 M. Lease [New York Observer]
(70) Comments
At $100 a foot net, I seriously doubt they will be giving junior associates private offices.
$100 per square foot is still a steal, but Cravath is really just staying put because they're so close to Blockheads. Cravathies love them some burrito.
FIRST! (to say "first")
I've heard people call A&P's DC office on 12th St. the "Death Star" because of the huge rounded glass atrium inside that somewhat resembles the center of the Death Star where Vader uttered his immortal words about Luke being his spawn before doing a hatchet job on his hand. It doesn't hurt that one of the partners who has an office off the atrium literally has a life-sized Darth Vader standing in the corner of his office.
Also, they supposedly filmed some scene from the forgettable Jodie Foster movie "Contact" in there.
Lat, let's do an interior decorating contest/rating of NY firms.
Are there other firms where associates don't have private offices? That seems insane to me! I'd be willing to make $15k less for a door that closes and locks. Keeps the bed bugs away!
Thacher Proffitt have swank offices. But they are a little too close to Cadwalader and the bed bugs.
@ 11:05
Vader doesn't cut off Luke's hand in the Death Star, he cuts it off in Cloud City. You tool.
seriously, NYC juniors have to share offices? blech.
Re 11:05 and 11:14
I just love it when geeks fight!
Watch the sparks fly! (off the lightsabers)
Speaking of Cadwalader ...
Is it true that they took the doors off of some of the offices so associates couldn't shut them and not allow partners to see them not working?
this office sharing in NYC is new to me to, Lat -- did you have an office buddy at Wachtell?
11:08:
great idea. perhaps Lat could solicit some insider shots. i assume almost everyone has atleast a camera phone.
11:12: doors that lock? Not in any firm that I've seen, unless you're a nursing mother. [anyone have a door that actually locks?]
11:14(2): I don't see how getting a Star Wars question wrong makes them a tool. It might make them a dumbass, or a douche, in this board's parlance, or even just a failed nerd. But a tool? Save that the Cravath folks.
NY associates are such losers. They only make 160K scale, and they have to share offices and pay ridiculous city and state taxes.
Ha ha ha. We're so better off in Boston.
Cravath offices are surprisingly shabby considering the firm's prestige. Lat - How about a poll of the nicest offices in NYC? I don't work in NYC but that would be a big factor for me given the hours I'd be spending there.
Cleary associate here. My door locks. And I've had my own office since I was a first-year).
11:50--rare in NY. questionable why you were sequestered in a single office
11:45--Cravath offices are not shabby by any stretch of the imagination
I've been to Cravath's offices. They are NOT shabby. The decorating is incredible.
DPW shares at least through third year.
Ahh, the Rule of 3 is alive and well!
Using simple math (e.g., not discounting future dollars or factoring in rate/salary/attorney increases): At 900m for 15 years, that's 60m a year to be paid by 379 attorneys* (*total NYC attorneys according to NALP, not counting "Other Lawyers"), equaling a cost per of $158,311.
oh my god. this means every cravath partner, on average, will suffer a $400,000 loss in income per year just to pay for the rent increase!! that is six million dollars over the next 15 years. that is insane.
11:59:
perhaps you would have them pack up and move to brooklyn or hoboken?
11:55-56 - Have you been to offices outside of NYC? I work in DC and compared to A&P, W&C, Wilmer, Covington, etc... Cravath seems shabby to me. The associates' offices were downright depressing - cramped, crappy old furniture. As for decorating, I guess you like the bust in the receptuion area.
Perhaps you're thinking of Sullivan?
D.C. offices tend to have locks on the doors...mine certainly does. of course, my firm also lets you close the door. how odd, a firm that trusts you to get your work done on time, without needed to watch over you every second of the day...
11:55 - All Cleary associates have their own offices. Moron.
Where I work, space is at such a premium that summer associates are crammed into little cubicles: 4-to-a-room.
It is a HUGE scandal.
CSM offices have locks...
Cravath associates should worry less about having doors that lock and more about windows that actually open. That's the more likely way they'll ever be able to leave their office.
12:14 -- Why is it a scandal that summers are in cubicles? From my experience, summers are never in their offices anyways -- they are always at some event, lunch, etc.
By far, the best DC office's are O'Melveney's. Baker & McKenzie's have awesome views, but O'M's are clean and minimalist. Shearman's are dingy and beat up. Morgan Lewis's super expensive semi-new bldg is also damn nice.
11:45: Nicest NYC offices I've seen are Cleary and Weil.
Morgan Lewis's DC office is down right glamourous.
Where I work, we have summer associates in windowed offices. And they have a gym membership accross the street with access to a rooftop pool. We also keep a lakehouse handy for the weekends and have boats and jet skis there. And yes, you guessed it. I don't work in NY. I do however make much more in real buying power than a NY associate. So I think I win. Oh, and we hired an architectural firm to redo our entire office about 3 years ago. It's beautiful...
"This has to be one of the biggest leases in history. Why not just buy the whole damn building if you're going to lay down almost a billion bucks?"
I understand, anecdotally, that Cadwalader used to own their building on Maiden Laine before they moved West, and that this was a big problem because it was part of partners' equity. So when attorneys were made partner, part of their buy-in included the skyrocketing value of that building, so it took years for partnership to pay off well. (I understand they buy-in to be an amount deducted from a new partner's paycheck that accounts for buying a piece of the partnership equity.)
Perhaps similar concerns prevent other firms from buying buildings.
Weil is a dump, or at least it was when I was there about 10 years ago. Milbank has some of the best views.
White & Case's big black monolith at 44th & 6th is also not-so-affectionately referred to as the Death Star and it looks a whole hell of a lot more like one than Cravath's tan-and-sand, green-hatted tower.
12:26: Where (city) do you work?
Did another Cravath partner die in order for the deal to happen? David Schwartz was head of Cravath's real estate practice when it made the move to the Death Star.
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2006/03/07/law-blog-flashback-the-1992-death-of-cravath-partner-david-schwartz/
http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/62/04716576/0471657662.pdf
I can't imagine being a summer and not having my own office let alone being a 1-3 year and not having one. Damn, another reason not to go to NYC.
12:34, I'm in San Fran and have an office with windows (not a great view though) and a door all to myself!
12:26 -- I would also like to know where you work, please. I want to work at a firm with a lakehouse and jet skis and lawyers who know how to use them (the biggest rarity of all).
Ugh, O'Melveny's offices are antiseptic white futurist creepshow. I loved their old offices, warm yellow wood and great art everywhere.
11:05 AM:
They filmed part of The Pelican Brief (based on the John Grisham novel) in the Howrey building, which is right across 12th St from A&P.
First year at small firm. Have my own office with a large window overlooking Lex (I look into the conference rooms at Simpson, actually). But my door doesn't lock. Although, apart from taking a conference calls with the court, I don't think I've ever even shut my door. The only reasons I could imagine locking my door are too salacious to post.
If only the office was closer to the sailing club.
I think the Warner building in DC, home to three or four midlevel firms, is one of the nicest in DC.
It sounds like $39/ft was the rate in 1989, not 2006. At 3% annual increases, its probably closer to $65/ft last year.
re: DC -- Morgan Lewis has a great rooftop patio/deck connected to their "dining center". Very nice indeed.
Yeah, White & Case has the building that is most Death Star-like. A big black tower with opaque black windows - always looked imposing from my office in the Grace Building.
It's not lack of space (or money, God knows): Cravath "tradition" requires that all jr associates share an office - the "true" first years (right out of law school) are the "door men" (or used to be so called), since their desks are closer to the door, and the second-year-level newbies, ie, those who clerked or those who have been there a year, are the "window men" since they have the (more prestigious) desk near the window. So it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.
12:25: Weil, yes. Nothing further to be said there. Cleary's offices are worse than CSM and they're downtown. Yes, most associates get their own offices, but they're tiny and dark.
12:02 - Who wouldn't like more busts in the reception area?
White Girls With Asian Guys
1:55: I prefer them down where I can see them.
Heller Ehrman NYC associates all have their own offices with windows and doors that lock. What I love about the large NYC firms in which associates share offices is that the firms have somehow convinced associates (or at least have attempted to) that it's some huge benefit to share an office.
ha, so cravath PPP is going to drop by $400k immediately? from like 3M to 2.6?
pwn3d
Math Much?
1:55 very underrated post
Cravath has a bust in the reception area (two when that Latina secretary is working), S+C has big pillars. Homo-erotic?
We here at DLA Piper in Baltimore (one of the firm's flagship offices) have a beautiful building - a sprawling glass complex tucked back into the woods 10 minutes from downtown.
We call it "The Emerald City."
You couldn't pay me enough to work in NYC.
5:02,
How can your firm's office in Baltimore be "one of the flagships"? If you want to use the term properly, there can be only one flagship. And I'm willing to guess that no one would consider an office in Baltimore as a "flagship" of anything.
I was wondering why DLA sucks as hard as it does and it just occurred to me-- it hires morons whose "happiness" is perhaps better translated as the "blissfulness that comes with ignorance." Of course we couldn't pay you enough to work in NYC... then again, we wouldn't pay you anything to work up here.
Sincerely,
NYC
I am a first-year associate at an Amlaw 200 firm, with a small office in Midtown NY (~30 attorneys). I get my own office with big windows, my own door (no lock), and I have two light switches because my office is big enough to need two sets of lights (probably 180 sf). I also have new furniture.
Sonnenschein NYC lawyers get their own windowed offices, complete with locking doors with key, from their first day as summers. Furniture could be better, but, then again, locking door with key.
They share the building with DefJam records. Apparently Jay-Z is a daily spotting. Maybe that has something to do with not buying the entire tower?
I've been practicing law in NYC for a decade and I have NEVER had occasion to lock the door to my office. There are only two reasons I could think to do so: (1) the obvious reason; and (2) to get changed for a black-tie function. Both of these would probably get one fired, although the former would have the added pleasure of disbarment.
Fired for changing clothes in your office? WTF?
Hunton has amazing offices in New York-- they take up three floors of the MetLife building, and look straight up and down Park, with the south-facing offices having views of all of downtown New York, including the Statue of Liberty on a good day. Also, all associates have offices with windows and doors-- some clerks do as well.
11:52 - no shit! I've done that multiple times. What's the big deal?
Pillsbury has private offices for all associates including summers. Lock and key for all doors. In SF we also have a nap room and new modern facilities. The Pillsbury SF office has the biggest law firm lobby of any firm in SF. We occupy approximately six floors. It also has the biggest law firm library in SF.
New York first year associates also have private offices. The DC office has a private gym with an indoor rock wall.
Where was Devil's Advocate filmed? I think I'll do a 3rd year lat. over to the firm who has offices in that building. Bonus points for the marble wall piece of swimming tortured souls behind the Partner in Charge's desk.